"...you can pretty much bet that they're tracking which users visit bittorrent-related sites so that they can better block or throttle those users." My employer, a large cable ISP, does not track or monitor what sites customers visit. However, we do track the types of traffic on our network and shape traffic as needed to keep the network reasonably healthy.
We don't single out users, we monitor nodes, which many customers are attached to. If a node is exceeding healthy levels (different nodes have different max levels, there's no one set "healthy" level) then that node is shaped until the traffic goes down.
#1. Stem Cell Breakthroughs Scientists reprogrammed regular skin cells to behave just like embryonic stem cells.
#2. Human Mapped J. Craig Venter published his entire "diploid" genetic sequence, or all the DNA in both sets of chromosomes inherited from each of his parents -- the first such genome ever published of a single person.
#3. Brightest Supernova Recorded It was the first time scientists saw the death of a star as large as SN 2006gy, which was approximately 100 to 200 times the size of the sun.
#4. Hundreds of New Species 700 new species of organisms -- including carnivorous sponges and giant sea spiders -- some 2,300 ft. to 19,700 ft. (700 m to 6,000 m) down in the Weddell Sea off Antarctica.
#5. Building a Human Heart Valve Scientists grew bone marrow stem cells into functioning human heart-valve tissue.
#6. "Hot Jupiters" Discovered British scientists identified three new planets outside our own Solar System...The new planets, named WASP-3, WASP-4 and WASP-5, are about the size of Jupiter, and orbit so close to their suns that their surface temperature reaches some 2,000C.
#7. A Big Birdlike Dinosaur Scientists discovered a birdlike dinosaur that lived 70 million years ago, was 3,000-lb. and was a young adult.
#8. Man's Migration Out of Africa A skull discovered in South Africa in 1952 revealed the first fossil evidence that modern humans left Africa between 65,000 and 25,000 years ago.
#9. The World's Oldest Animal Researchers stumbled on what is believed to be the world's oldest living animal: a 405 year-old clam.
#10. Real-Life Kryptonite A mineralologist discovered a white, powdery mineral that has the same properties - sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide -- as the fictional kryptonite.
Blizzard uses Warden to protect their customers, so their customers will continue to have a good time playing WoW, and will thus continue paying for it. Blizzard doesn't want customers to get hacked because they don't want customers calling for help when they're hacked, since paying customer support people is expensive and takes away from their bottom line.
What you are describing seems a lot like Comcast's PowerBoost
6Mbps customers should see temporary bursts up to 12Mbps, while 8Mbps customers should see temporary bursts up to 16Mbps. Users in our forums report bursts up to 24Mbps. The upgrades will appear automatically (no need to call in), when your market receives the upgrade.
Getting an advert in the mail to an address does not guarantee that the service is available. The ad itself more than likely says something like "not available in all areas" or somesuch. Yes, I know it sucks.
Can you tell that I work in customer service for a cable company? Yep, I do.:-P
because comcast wont run their cable 20 feet across the road to his house Utilities are generally not allowed to randomly string cable across a road without (sometimes impossible to get) city permits.
City franchise agreements would be the most likely reason they wouldn't be able to service the house across the street from someone who has the service already. Cities draw the access maps, and the carriers must follow them. The dividing line of who can and cannot get service typically runs down the middle of a street.
He has no reason to apologize to them. This was a challenge, not an "if it's true you get a free laptop" contest.
The challenge was for Maynor and Ellch to hack a fresh out of the box MacBook using their wifi exploit a year ago. They didn't accept the challenge and so they don't deserve a laptop.
iPhone User Guide Chapter 4, Page 50
You can also set Mail to regularly check for email and download your messages even when you don't have Mail open.
Set whether iPhone checks for new messages automatically > From the Home screen choose Settings > Mail > Auto-Check, then tap Manual, "Every 15 minutes," "Every 30 minutes," or "Every hour." > If you have a Yahoo! email account, email is instantly transferred to iPhone as it arrives at the Yahoo! server.
Set whether iPhone plays an alert sound when you have new email > From the Home screen choose Settings > Sound, then turn New Mail on or off.
Turning off the iPhone was not something I had to learn how to do. Every cell phone I have owned in the past 10 years (2 Nokias, a Motorola, an LG and now the iPhone) uses the same mechanism in regards to the device turning completely off.
1. Hold down a button for a few seconds (the iPhone then has a confirmation that says "slide to power off" and has "cancel" if you pressed it accidentally, where the other phones turned off with no confirmation). 2. The device turns completely off and cannot make nor receive calls/edge data/wifi/whatever. 3. Turn the phone back on again by holding down the same button you used to turn it off for a few seconds.
This may seem on the surface like a coverup, but truth be told, most large organizations have rules that state that the average employee should not comment to reporters in any official capacity. I happen to work at such a company, and have no problem not talking to reporters.
In WoW, level pretty much is the gauge of your character's abilities, so a character that is level 70, that has crappy equipment is more often asked for groups/raids than a level 65 with excellent stuff. WoW also has an extra (non gear related) reason why a lvl 65 and a lvl 70 may not be able to go into a dungeon together: at top level, a whole host of new raid encounters and dungeons become available to you, that can only be entered at level 70.
You wouldn't bring a lvl 5 Cleric with your party into a dungeon the GM made for level 10 for the same reason you wouldn't bring a level 65 Priest to help with the level 72+ boss Doomwalker: the level 5 and level 65 wouldn't survive for more than one minute.
There's no more chance of getting a municipality to switch to a different cable company than there is of getting a different local phone company. Change can only happen if you make it happen. A small city south of here got so many complaints about their cable company that when the franchise agreement was up, they opened bidding to any other company interested in the market. The city council was so frustrated by all the complaints that they had public meetings on which cable company the public wanted. The public chose the company I work for, which is why I know this story. We didn't even have the highest bid, yet we got the franchise anyway.
You have no other alternative for cable TV. I live in one of the most most competitive TV/Internet/Phone markets in the USA, so I concede your point. There are over a dozen different companies (cable/fibre/satellite/phone line/etc.) here offering TV/Internet/Phone. Competition here is crazy, and folks are always looking for a bargain. Some people switch TV companies from year to year, not caring who gives them their TV as long as they get it for less than their neighbors. It's funny how people will spend $300 in installation fees just to save $6 a month ($72/year).
If you don't like Adelphia, then don't give them your money. You don't need TV to live.
It sounds like you're really upset at your local cable company. I haven't had any issues with my DVR, but YMMV. I wish I could help. I do care, which is why I tend to post about cable stuff, and I do also work for a [large cable company].
Just an FYI, it's up to your local city government what company is allowed to operate cable in your town. Your city gives out the licenses and permits and contracts. If you want your local cable company to bite the dust (which it sounds like you do), then talk to your local government, and ask them consider other companies rather than the one you don't like. Go to your local city council meeting and give them your opinion about your cable company's DVR service. Heck, tell your local BBB too!
Cable DVRs are like getting a basic no-frills econobox car. Inexpensive, no whiz bang features, just a car that gets you where you need to go. Tivo is like getting a top of the line car, with all the features you'd ever want, and gets you where you want to go in style. Most people choose the former, but want the latter.
Searching the Comcast website proves otherwise. I searched for "internet requirements" on www.comcast.com and found the first link:
What are the minimum system requirements to run the Comcast High-Speed Internet Service?
The minimum system requirements needed to run the Comcast High-Speed Internet Service are as follows:
PC Based Computers
Operating Systems: Windows 2000, XP SP2, Vista Processor Speed: 300 MHz or higher Memory: 256 MB Hard Drive Space: 150 MB of available space Input Device: CD-ROM Ethernet: Recommended USB Port: Optional
Browser: Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher Firefox 1.0.7 or higher
Macintosh Based Computers
Operating Systems: MAC OS 10.4 and higher Processor Speed: PowerPC G3, G4, G5 for OS 10.x Memory: 256 MB Hard Drive Space: 100 MB of available space Input Device: CD-ROM Ethernet: Recommended USB Port: Optional
The whole "firing the customer" is something new that has sprung up in the past ten years and I think in some cases it should be done. Thankfully, this policy also in place in the cable industry. I am allowed to blow off customers who are unreasonable, and it's great to be able to say no and not get into trouble. The customer is not always right. Some companies are far too lenient to customers who abuse the system and/or service provided to them. Customers always want something for free, and will waste an incredible amount of time and energy to save a buck or two.
It reminds me of playing table top Pac Man in a restaurant in the 80's and also putting Cue Cat barcodes on everything in Y2K! Nice nostalgia combo there.
All ISP and even phone companies are based on what is called over subscription. ISPs buy bandwidth based on actual demand not theoretical maximum demand. This statement is quite outdated. Not all ISPs use this antiquated model anymore. In the past it was true that there were few customers who took advantage of their bandwidth potential, and so ISPs would model and build based on average usage rather than maximum usage. The high demand for broadband internet access years ago also caused cable ISPs to sign up more subscribers than the infrastructure could handle. However, any ISP worth subscribing to today has since completed significant infrastructure improvements to minimize the chances any one subscriber can affect another on a node.
The cable company I work for is close to completing our infrastructure upgrades (will be done by the end of the year), and the model we use assumes that everyone in an area we service has all of our services, and uses it to 100% capacity. This means that we have enough hardware in the field to handle about 20 years of service upgrades.
...the next one off the assembly line really is the same thing as the previous one. Not all robots or machines for that matter are created equal, even if they are off the same exact assembly line. Put this in the context of cars, or computers even, and you'd know that machine 2000 and machine 2001 may have completely different life expectancies, repair rates, and functional uptime. This in itself may lend to the tendency to feel for the machine that experience tells you is the most reliable.
WORLD OF WARCRAFT® TERMS OF USE AGREEMENT Last Updated January 11, 2007
Ownership/Selling of the Account or Virtual Items....Blizzard does not recognize any virtual property transfers executed outside of the Game or the purported sale, gift or trade in the "real world" of anything related to the Game. Accordingly, you may not sell items for "real" money or otherwise exchange items for value outside of the Game. If you sell, transfer and make real money off of Blizzard's property, it's stealing, isn't it? Also, there is no way in or out of the game to transfer in-game gold for real money, other than on the black market of gold sellers. Black marketeers usually don't pay any sort of taxes.
There is indeed a "terms of use" agreement if you use our service. Both the company and the customer are bound by this agreement. It's spelled out in agonizing detail, but again, there are no set bandwidth limits. It basically says, and I'm paraphrasing here, "don't be an asshole, if you start acting like an asshole, and your assholish behavior negatively affects other customers, we have the right to terminate your service for acting like an asshole." Luckily for us, very very few customers are assholes.
It's like the guy in the dorms who took the hottest, longest shower he could every Monday morning at 4am, just because he could. This caused everyone else in the dorm to have to take cold showers every Monday morning. Let's just say his stay in the dorm was a short one.
A very small minority of customers abuse the system. These are not customers that we want to have.
I understand it fine, but there is no contract of any kind so your argument is moot. Nothing to sign. You can cancel whenever you want, without any fees whatsoever. Subsequently, we can cancel you if you abuse our service and affect other customers in the process (that 2nd part is important for us to cancel you). It's an "at will" service. If you don't like it, go with another company who offers a contract if you think that's so beneficial to you.
I myself use a lot of bandwidth. I regularly download music, movies, Linux ISOs, games, etc. But, with all that downloading I still don't use enough to make it in the top 10%. If I did, even though I have an employee account, they'd shut me off too.
Slashdot Mirror
Traffic shaping: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_shaping
We don't single out users, we monitor nodes, which many customers are attached to. If a node is exceeding healthy levels (different nodes have different max levels, there's no one set "healthy" level) then that node is shaped until the traffic goes down.
#1. Stem Cell Breakthroughs
Scientists reprogrammed regular skin cells to behave just like embryonic stem cells.
#2. Human Mapped
J. Craig Venter published his entire "diploid" genetic sequence, or all the DNA in both sets of chromosomes inherited from each of his parents -- the first such genome ever published of a single person.
#3. Brightest Supernova Recorded
It was the first time scientists saw the death of a star as large as SN 2006gy, which was approximately 100 to 200 times the size of the sun.
#4. Hundreds of New Species
700 new species of organisms -- including carnivorous sponges and giant sea spiders -- some 2,300 ft. to 19,700 ft. (700 m to 6,000 m) down in the Weddell Sea off Antarctica.
#5. Building a Human Heart Valve
Scientists grew bone marrow stem cells into functioning human heart-valve tissue.
#6. "Hot Jupiters" Discovered
British scientists identified three new planets outside our own Solar System...The new planets, named WASP-3, WASP-4 and WASP-5, are about the size of Jupiter, and orbit so close to their suns that their surface temperature reaches some 2,000C.
#7. A Big Birdlike Dinosaur
Scientists discovered a birdlike dinosaur that lived 70 million years ago, was 3,000-lb. and was a young adult.
#8. Man's Migration Out of Africa
A skull discovered in South Africa in 1952 revealed the first fossil evidence that modern humans left Africa between 65,000 and 25,000 years ago.
#9. The World's Oldest Animal
Researchers stumbled on what is believed to be the world's oldest living animal: a 405 year-old clam.
#10. Real-Life Kryptonite
A mineralologist discovered a white, powdery mineral that has the same properties - sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide -- as the fictional kryptonite.
Blizzard uses Warden to protect their customers, so their customers will continue to have a good time playing WoW, and will thus continue paying for it. Blizzard doesn't want customers to get hacked because they don't want customers calling for help when they're hacked, since paying customer support people is expensive and takes away from their bottom line.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Getting an advert in the mail to an address does not guarantee that the service is available. The ad itself more than likely says something like "not available in all areas" or somesuch. Yes, I know it sucks.
:-P
Can you tell that I work in customer service for a cable company? Yep, I do.
City franchise agreements would be the most likely reason they wouldn't be able to service the house across the street from someone who has the service already. Cities draw the access maps, and the carriers must follow them. The dividing line of who can and cannot get service typically runs down the middle of a street.
He has no reason to apologize to them. This was a challenge, not an "if it's true you get a free laptop" contest.
The challenge was for Maynor and Ellch to hack a fresh out of the box MacBook using their wifi exploit a year ago. They didn't accept the challenge and so they don't deserve a laptop.
when you don't have Mail open.
Set whether iPhone checks for new messages automatically
> From the Home screen choose Settings > Mail > Auto-Check, then tap Manual, "Every
15 minutes," "Every 30 minutes," or "Every hour."
> If you have a Yahoo! email account, email is instantly transferred to iPhone as it arrives
at the Yahoo! server.
Set whether iPhone plays an alert sound when you have new email
> From the Home screen choose Settings > Sound, then turn New Mail on or off.
Turning off the iPhone was not something I had to learn how to do. Every cell phone I have owned in the past 10 years (2 Nokias, a Motorola, an LG and now the iPhone) uses the same mechanism in regards to the device turning completely off.
1. Hold down a button for a few seconds (the iPhone then has a confirmation that says "slide to power off" and has "cancel" if you pressed it accidentally, where the other phones turned off with no confirmation).
2. The device turns completely off and cannot make nor receive calls/edge data/wifi/whatever.
3. Turn the phone back on again by holding down the same button you used to turn it off for a few seconds.
This may seem on the surface like a coverup, but truth be told, most large organizations have rules that state that the average employee should not comment to reporters in any official capacity. I happen to work at such a company, and have no problem not talking to reporters.
You wouldn't bring a lvl 5 Cleric with your party into a dungeon the GM made for level 10 for the same reason you wouldn't bring a level 65 Priest to help with the level 72+ boss Doomwalker: the level 5 and level 65 wouldn't survive for more than one minute.
If you don't like Adelphia, then don't give them your money. You don't need TV to live.
It sounds like you're really upset at your local cable company. I haven't had any issues with my DVR, but YMMV. I wish I could help. I do care, which is why I tend to post about cable stuff, and I do also work for a [large cable company].
Just an FYI, it's up to your local city government what company is allowed to operate cable in your town. Your city gives out the licenses and permits and contracts. If you want your local cable company to bite the dust (which it sounds like you do), then talk to your local government, and ask them consider other companies rather than the one you don't like. Go to your local city council meeting and give them your opinion about your cable company's DVR service. Heck, tell your local BBB too!
Cable DVRs are like getting a basic no-frills econobox car. Inexpensive, no whiz bang features, just a car that gets you where you need to go. Tivo is like getting a top of the line car, with all the features you'd ever want, and gets you where you want to go in style. Most people choose the former, but want the latter.
It reminds me of playing table top Pac Man in a restaurant in the 80's and also putting Cue Cat barcodes on everything in Y2K! Nice nostalgia combo there.
The cable company I work for is close to completing our infrastructure upgrades (will be done by the end of the year), and the model we use assumes that everyone in an area we service has all of our services, and uses it to 100% capacity. This means that we have enough hardware in the field to handle about 20 years of service upgrades.
What bitrate are they offering? TFA makes no mention of this. If the mp3s are 192 kbps or lower, then they're no use to me.
VOD is just a rehash of shows are already on the channels anyway. Just DVR the show that's on VOD and skip the ads.
...the next one off the assembly line really is the same thing as the previous one. Not all robots or machines for that matter are created equal, even if they are off the same exact assembly line. Put this in the context of cars, or computers even, and you'd know that machine 2000 and machine 2001 may have completely different life expectancies, repair rates, and functional uptime. This in itself may lend to the tendency to feel for the machine that experience tells you is the most reliable.TERMS OF USE AGREEMENT
Last Updated January 11, 2007
Ownership/Selling of the Account or Virtual Items.
Cancel, as in turn off their service.
There is indeed a "terms of use" agreement if you use our service. Both the company and the customer are bound by this agreement. It's spelled out in agonizing detail, but again, there are no set bandwidth limits. It basically says, and I'm paraphrasing here, "don't be an asshole, if you start acting like an asshole, and your assholish behavior negatively affects other customers, we have the right to terminate your service for acting like an asshole." Luckily for us, very very few customers are assholes.
It's like the guy in the dorms who took the hottest, longest shower he could every Monday morning at 4am, just because he could. This caused everyone else in the dorm to have to take cold showers every Monday morning. Let's just say his stay in the dorm was a short one.
A very small minority of customers abuse the system. These are not customers that we want to have.
I understand it fine, but there is no contract of any kind so your argument is moot. Nothing to sign. You can cancel whenever you want, without any fees whatsoever. Subsequently, we can cancel you if you abuse our service and affect other customers in the process (that 2nd part is important for us to cancel you). It's an "at will" service. If you don't like it, go with another company who offers a contract if you think that's so beneficial to you.
I myself use a lot of bandwidth. I regularly download music, movies, Linux ISOs, games, etc. But, with all that downloading I still don't use enough to make it in the top 10%. If I did, even though I have an employee account, they'd shut me off too.